ESP George Lynch Kamikaze

Rock maple body Ebony neck, Orig. Floyd Rose. Nothing fancy just a good rock guitar. I had George sign it in 97 and I took a picture of him signing it and playing it.

It has a pretty clear sound even when my Soldano is cranked.
I don't know what all these other reviews are bitching about.
I've owned 80's Jackson Randy Rhoads, Soloist and Kellys, Gibson Les Pauls and Fender Strats, and this guitar fits my hands and plays better the all the others besides my RR. The Demon pick ups are fine, the guitar has a lot of tone, sounds good with my amp.

Fret work is great, all ESP's have great fret work. Neck is fast once you get used to it. It's wide and thin, great string spacing. Almost a classical neck. It does take some getting used to. But once you do, it's awesome.

Standard problems after 5 years of owning it.
Volume knob comes loose once in a while, input jack come loose every now and again, but what guitar doesn't.

Never had to have it repaired. I did call about finding a local dealer other than Mars when I moved. They were pretty helpful.

I love the guitar, I'm getting ready to order a George Lynch sunburst tiger. Don't take my work for it or these other guys(I have know idea what they are talking about), Go play one for a while, get used to the neck. You will love it. I've played on a few ESP's and other guitars at Mars and they weren't set up right, they were bet. Go to a smaller shop to try one out. I hate Les Paul necks they suck, this is much closed to the early 80's Charvel/Jackson neck.

the neck is nice to pay on and it is easy

i use many effects with this guitar and it seems to bring out all of them

the guitar fit me and my body perfectly there were no flaws on it and it has not broken anything in 6 months

the only thing that i break is strings on this guitar

i did try to change strings once and a part on the bridge broke but it was my fault because i took a screw driver and a hammer to it and the company fixed it free even though it was after warranty

i have been playing this guitar for 6 months but i do have two other esp guitars that i play often. this is my best guitar and i am very proud of it

It was made in Japan, has a solid maple body (read: *heavy*) with a maple neck and an ebony fingerboard. See my review on my Sunburst Tiger. Many of the specs are the same. It has a Screamin' Demon in the bridge and an ESP single coil in the neck. There is only one volume knob and it also functions as a push/pull for the pickup selector. Pull it out for the front and push it back in for the rear. The finish is the camouflage graphic like the "In My Dreams" video, however my best friend has the one with the flourescent camouflage graphic and the serrated headstock like the "Just Walk Away" video.

He got that because he called and asked if they had one there or could make one. They had four left at ESP, so they sent one to him (he works at a music store). The finish is shiny like a lacquer, not like the satin finish I've seen on this guitar when used by Lynch live and in videos. Strat body... you've all seen this guitar. It has black hardware and an original Floyd Rose. The guitar just came with the associated hardware and a very nice case. I give it an 8... it's sparse, but does everything it does very cleanly and with no drama. Some of my opinions have changed since getting the Sunburst Tiger, so these are my current thoughts. Mechanically, both guitars are identical.

I've never been a huge fan of the Screamin' Demon. The longer I had my Sunburst Tiger, the more I disliked it. I still don't like it. It's a cool pickup, but just doesn't suit me too well. I play heavy progressive rock music. It's cool to have a guitar with a humbucker and a single coil for different sounds, but I'd rather have something with dual humbuckers and just split the coils when I want to. The Demon is fairly bright and only more so when combined with the maple body, although the body does add a little midrange the pickup seems to be lacking. It's not an awful sounding guitar, I'd just like it to be a little more full. My main rig is a 5150 head and cabinet and assorted Boss pedals. My Wolfgangs and my Ibanez JPM sound great through all this. Actually, my M1 Tiger sounds better than my Sunburst Tiger and Kamikaze. It makes no sense... see my review on the M1 for more details.

The pickups were adjusted fairly close to the strings, but not too badly. It was pretty good considering the pickups were body-mounted and couldn't be adjusted easily. The finish is flawless and the ebony fingerboard is one of the best I've seen. It's still tough getting used to the difference in tension playing a neck with a reverse headstock.

I did have some problems with the setup, though. The neck had too much relief and a lot of buzzing around the middle of the fingerboard. Also, the 6th & 7th frets were a little too high. I just left it after having the relief fixed. It's not so bad that it needs to be corrected, but certainly out of place on a guitar of this money.

This guitar is built like a tank. I wouldn't test it by throwing it out a window, but everything on it seems strong enough to me. I don't think it'll get played live because of the floating tremolo. Besides, my Wolfgangs are my live guitars. They have the d-tuna, the sound and everything I need to live performances. I think I only own signature guitars... my Lynch ESP's, my Wolfgangs, my JPM... I do have two Strats, though... 8 )

ESP's support *sucks*.... I mean *sucks*!!! They were cool when I called them in the past, but the guitar tech messed up one of the pivot screws on the knife edge of the Floyd Rose. When the store called ESP to get another part, they told him (I think the name of the guy at ESP was either Mark or Sean) to tell the tech they weren't a parts store. Nice bunch of guys after buying a $1600 guitar...

Ibanez and Peavey have the best customer support I have seen. When I had problems with my JPM, Ibanez took my guitar, put a new neck on it and got it back to me within four days. Not four days after getting it... I mean four days from the day I dropped it off (day one) to the day I picked it back up at the store (day four). Incredible... I don't like all their guitars, but I'lm buying a Prestige Roadstar later this year just because they were so good to me.

I have been playing for 13 years and have two other ESP's, four Wolfgangs, two Strats and an Ibanez JPM. If stolen, I'd find the guy who did it and beat him with that 15 pound guitar because it cost me so damn much money! My favorite feature is the push/pull pickup selector on the volume knob.

This was the "Desert Storm" Kamikazee, as seen on GL's REH instructional video. Maple body, bolt-on maple neck w/ ebony fretboard (22 frets), banana headstock, Kahler double locking tremolo, SD Screamin' Demon at bridge, ESP single-coil at neck, no tone knob or selector switch. The selector switch was in the push/pull volume pot. Satin finish on the back of the neck. No tremolo recess for the bridge, so the whammy bar can only lower pitch. Jumbo frets.

As you may have read fron the SD screamin demon database, it's a real good pickup and alot of people are happy with it. But you need a pickup like that in a guitar that has a body made of basswood, alder, ash, mahogany, or something other than maple. The unique EQ spike of this pickup in a guitar with a maple body/neck and an ebony fretboard just screamed resonance! So much so that it was impossible to control/minimize the feedback, no matter how good your muting techniques are. The guitar reaks with high-end frequencies, especially when you back off the volume knob. You can get some more bass frequencies happening if you crank the amp, but your problems with the feedback will get worse. There's so much high-end that it makes the guitar sound sterile and thin. As far as versitility, remember, a signature model will only do what that particular artist wants it to do. In this case, that's not very much.

The first thing you notice about this guitar when you pick it up is how big and thick it is. Even the neck, This is a MAN'S guitar. The pickups were direct-mounted, so they stick out like a sore thumb. This may cause you to alter your playing technique a bit. The cover for the volume pot kept falling off, so that was a bore. There's no way of adjusting the tightness of the whammy bar to the bridge, so when you're playing non-tremolo licks, the bar is flying all over the place. The neck was fitted pretty solid.

One trip to a competent repairman and most of your problems will be solved. I still would'nt gig with it due to the feedback/overtones.

N/A

I turned it back in 3 weeks later and got something else. 'Nuff said.

The version that I have has neon camoflage (neon green, neon pink, yellow, &c.). It has the banana headstock, not the rare jagged version that you see on some models.

While the guitar itself is a well-made guitar, what you are paying for is obviously the look. You can probably get a better, more versatile guitar for the money. As for me, I really liked the look when I got it, and even though it's a little dated now, I don't ever plan on parting with it.
The two main comments people have told me about the guitar are (1) it is surprisingly heavy and (2) the bridge pickup is very hot. I don't disagree.
The bottom line is that the guitar's styling makes it vulnerable to changing tastes. However, whether or not you like the graphics, it's undeniably a superb guitar.
Lastly, if anyone has a neck with the jagged headstock, I would be very interested in trading the neck that I have (with the banana headstock), plus cash.

Made at ESP's Custom shop in Japan. I bought it used/incomplete, so I added a Floyd Rose Pro bridge and Duncan Lynch Screamin Demon pickup. It originally comes w/a Duncan Distortion pickup and an Original Floyd. The body and bolt-on neck are Eastern Maple and the fretboard is Ebony. The body/mega-reverse headstock are custom painted black/red/yellow/tan camoflouged w/ fighter pilot(Kamikaze)graphics. Humbucker/single coil configuration with volume knob that is also a push/pull pickup selector.

Sounds thick w/ no muddiness. Very good for hard rock/punk/thrash/metal. The single coil is thin though. For rockin it's a 10!!

Neck is very wide(like a classical)and thin. Great string seperation, and good for tapping.

The long, reverse hockey-stick headstock is very fragile!! This guitar fell over and it shattered!! Having it repaired(ESP wouldn't go anything!!) wasn't fun. Everything else on the guitar is awesome!!

ESP did not stand behind this guitar when the headstock broke. It just fell over off of a guitar stand and it broke in 3 peices!! I've heard other Kamikaze owners suffer the same fate and ESP doesn't Warranty their headstocks!!!

10 on sound/feel, 2 on ESP's Customer Service, headstock is fragile. Out of my 7 guitars this one is tied w/my Les Paul as the best sounding!!